Bizarre Bumps!

Do you know that moment when you go shopping or to a bar in your hometown and you bump into a member of your family or one of your friends?  It is a nice surprise, isn't it!  Exaggerate that feeling a hundred times and add a 'WOW' moment; because that is what it is like when you meet those people on your journeys around the world.  Over the course of my travels, I have had the strangely serendipitous pleasure of bumping into a variety of people that have connected me to some point in my past.

Only last year, I opened the gate to the apartment I was staying at, in the gorgeous Croatian town of Hvar,  to hear a woman's voice (tinged with a hint of shock) shout my name.  I turned round to find Heather; the person I used to sit next to in History lessons at sixth form college!  This is someone I had, probably, not seen for about fifteen years!  And, bear in mind the road on which the apartment was situated was a quiet one, a walk away from the centre of the town.  Both surprised, we had a quick catch up, swapped Croatia tips and went on our way open mouthed at what had just happened.  I then turned to my friend, who I was travelling with, and reminded him of the conversation we had the day before, as the ferry pulled into the dock, when I said that I had a strange feeling that I was going to meet someone I knew on the island!  Odd, eh?!

My Croatian 'bump' in Hvar - Heather from school! (source - MikeW)

This is not the first time this kind of thing has happened.  In Brisbane, Australia, I was checking out the leaflets in a backpacker travel agent, when I looked up on hearing a Yorkshire accent; spotting a guy I went to university with.  On that very same trip, I spent a couple of days travelling with a guy who had gone to agricultural college with a mutual friend and his younger brother, whom I attended primary school with.  And, a week previous to that encounter, I walked into the common room of a hostel in Port Macquarie in New South Wales where I got chatting to a girl from my home city, Hull; whom I later discovered when showing her mum photos of her year in Australia, instantly recognised me as the student who had worked with her as part of a work experience module for my degree course four years previously!

The strangest random meet, however, came when travelling with Irish friends I had met in New Zealand, around the south west of Ireland.  We were in a hotel in the Kerry town of Dingle, when I spotted a face I recognised.  I stopped the guy and, yup...he confirmed that he was indeed one of the Irish guys from the 3 day boat trip I took round the Whitsunday Islands, 3 years before.  So, whilst travelling to one country to meet friends I had met in another, I bumped into a random acquaintance, I had met in another country.  Weird, but I enjoy these meets.  These random encounters make me realise how small the world really is and, though probably in part down to my 'Terminator-like' ability for facial recognition, I am always surprised how often this happens.

So, keep your eyes peeled and listen out for your name.  You never know what old school friend, ex-partner or former travel buddy you may encounter as you make your way through life!

If you have already had some similar experiences to me why not share them in the comments box below.  I would love to hear about them!

Get Rich...Quick!

A great travel 'investment' - bathing elephants in Thailand!

Erin, an amazing Australian friend of mine (whom I met in a hostel in Dubrovnik a couple of years back), once told me a brilliant quotation that has stuck with me.  It goes, "travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer".  If you are here, reading my blog about travel, you will have probably heard it before.  If not; well, here you go.  Take it in, savour it, because it is true.  Every penny I have spent on my travels has been worth it for a number of reasons.  The people travel has enabled me to meet, the different cultures I have been lucky enough to see, the food I have been able to taste and the experiences I have had on my travels have been a superb investment.  I have these imprinted as memories for the rest of my life.  I know if I had stuffed the money I have spent on travelling in a bank account and had stayed at home, I would not be the person I am today.  I know I would certainly be poorer for it - emotionally and spiritually.  Travel has opened my eyes to a number of things about myself and others and has taught me a host of skills that I could have probably have learned elsewhere, but I am sure I had more fun learning them in the humidity of a Bangkok night market or on the back of a yacht (Tooheys in hand) in the Whitsunday Islands in Australia.  So, open your purse and wallets, splash the cash (within your means, of course) and I can guarantee your travel will pay you back tenfold.

The Home Advantage

A canal in the Jordaan area of Amsterdam.

I have mentioned before how great travelling (and, particularly, travelling solo) is for meeting people and making new friends.  As my travel experience and the number of trips I have taken has grown, I have seemingly developed a knack for spotting potential friends.  The kind of friend I would like to stay in touch with after spending some time travelling with them for a bit or sharing some kind of travel experience with that person via a tour, day trip, night out etc.  The Irish girls I met in New Zealand and my Dutch friend are just two such examples.  Mitch and I, both backpacking solo, hit it off straight away on a sailing trip, almost 7 years ago, round the Whitsunday Islands, in Australia.  We shared a similar sense of humour, tastes in music and enjoyed hearing about each other's travels and lives back home.  We also enjoyed partying together at the traditional post trip boat party in Airlie Beach too!  Making fun of his brilliant Dutch accent (via the Austin Power's character, Goldmember) also helped the friendship grow too!

This weekend, I make, what must be, my sixth or seventh trip to Amsterdam to visit him and his girlfriend.  Before befriending Mitch, I had visited Amsterdam with my friends from home and considered it 'ticked' off of my bucket list.  We had seen all the sights, been to a sex show, visited the Van Gogh and Stedelijk Museums as well as frequent both the Erotic and Sex Museum; all rounded off with a lounge in the sun in the brilliant Vondelpark.  So, when Mitch invited me over soon after both of our returns from Oz, I was a little trepidatious about going back to see the same old things and smiling politely (like us Brits do so well) at all the things I had seen before so not to offend Mitch and his love of his country.

I could not have been more wrong.  In every visit I have made, Mitch has been able to show me parts of Amsterdam and the Netherlands I would have really had to research in depth to find.  I have been lucky enough to meet and break bread with his fantastic friends and family, enjoy dressing up like a traditional Dutch person in Volendam and wander the beautiful quiet streets of the Jordaan (only a few parallel streets from all the other tourist madness).  On top of this, I have experienced nightlife like a local, in a traditional Dutch music bar, in the Jordaan area, that left me befuddled but filled with merriment at the thought that I was having a great time without knowing a single word being sung by folk superstar singers such as Walter Kroes.  Mitch and I have stormed house music festivals such as Sensation - White and Mysteryland, visited castles I did not know existed and eaten some food I would not have even thought of trying.

And, that's the key element to all of this; visiting a local means that they show you their neighbourhood, their country at its best, showing you things you did not know were there or taste things that you never thought possible.  I could write an equally lengthy passage in praise of Ireland and all the amazing things the Irish girls have taken me to see in their fair country.  So, if you can, take the home advantage, you won't regret it!